Ten Organizations That Support Diversity in Tech

Diversity is undeniably one of the biggest issues facing the technology industry.

In the top 75 Silicon Valley tech firms, men make up 70% of employees, while women make up just 30%, according to a report from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That same report indicates that, compared to other private sector industries, the high-tech sector employs more Whites, Asian Americans, and men, and less African Americans, Hispanics, and women.

In executive roles, representation is even worse. Whites make up 83% of leadership roles in tech companies, while Asian Americans hold 11% of roles and African Americans hold just 2%.

These statistics come despite growing research that diversity in the corporate world is a positive: a 2018 Boston Consulting Group report found that companies with above-average diversity scores generate 19% more innovation revenue compared to companies with below-average diversity scores.

However, across the country and around the globe, hundreds of non-profit organizations are making a difference and supporting diversity growth in the tech field. While there’s still a long way to go before high-tech companies are truly diverse and equitable, these organizations are leading the way one step at a time to make that a reality.

Here are ten organizations that support the further diversification of the high-tech workplace.

Before we move on...

Out in Tech

Out in Tech consists of over 40,000 members around the globe, working to create opportunities for LGBTQ+ tech leaders. The organization emphasizes the core values of kindness, knowledge, belonging, and joy.

Out in Tech hosts over 100 events annually around the globe and virtually to bring together members of the LGBTQ+ community. These include networking events, book clubs, pride parties, job fairs, mentorship programs, and more.

Apart from their general events, Out in Tech leads two main initiatives: Digital Corps and Out in Tech U.

Out in Tech Digital Corps provides digital resources to LGBTQ+ activists and leaders around the world, specifically targeting those in the 70+ countries where same-sex marriage is still illegal. Digital Corps mainly focuses on building WordPress.com websites for LGBTQ+ corps. Since 2017, the team of volunteer developers, designers, and copywriters has created over 150 websites worldwide. As of June 2021, the Digital Corps team is focusing on creating websites for U.S.-based queer-owned businesses.

Out in Tech U is the organization’s mentorship branch. This free, eight-week program pairs 17-24-year-old LGBTQ+ youth with Out in Tech members working in the tech field. The fully virtual program allows mentees to work on projects, network with peers and develop both technical and professional career skills.

Out in Tech currently has chapters in 17 cities worldwide, with more on the way.

Women in Tech

Women in Tech aims to “close the gender gap and to help women embrace technology” through their four primary focuses: Education, Entrepreneurialism, Social Inclusion, and Science & Innovation. The organization follows the core values of Diversity and Interculturality, Collaboration, Creativity, Love and Positive Energy and Ambition. Their overall goal is to empower five million women and girls by the year 2030.

Headquartered in France, the global organization has local chapters all around the globe and on all populated continents.

Women in Tech hosts a variety of events annually, including the 24HR World Tour and the Balkans Summit.

Hosted virtually, the 24HR World Tour brings 150 speakers from around the globe to speak about various topics, including entrepreneurship, whether or not appearance matters for women in the industry, closing the gender gap in rural areas and more.

The Balkans Summit takes place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and is hosted by the former Croatian president herself, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic. This in-person event brings leaders together to discuss how to empower women and girls in the region with practical solutions.

Blacks in Technology Foundation

Blacks in Technology LLC is “stomping the divide” around the globe, aiming to increase the representation and participation of Black people in tech. The organization is the “largest community and media organization that focuses on Black people in the technology industry,” according to their website.

The Blacks in Technology Foundation is the organization’s non-profit branch, consisting of the largest community of Black professionals in tech. The foundation provides resources, guidance and opportunities for its members, and membership is complimentary.

Organized chapters around the world serve as a resource for members to network, develop professionally, and create a positive environment for each other.

The organization’s largest event is BITCON, an annual conference that features influential Black voices in tech. Other events include coffee chats, startup pitch competitions, career fairs, and more.

Techqueria

The nonprofit Techqueria serves the largest community of Latinx tech professionals around the world. Founded in March of 2019, this relatively new organization has grown to over 10,000 members and seven active city chapters.

The organization boasts several initiatives, including a job board, a donation drive for Dreamers in Tech, an active Slack community, and several virtual events every month. Virtual events include coffee chats, networking events, panels, career fairs, mixers and more.

Techqueria specifically has a pledge to not partner with companies that support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), of which they have a list of companies on their website. While most of their funding as a nonprofit comes from companies, they’ve decided not to take money from any ICE-supplementing organizations to set forward values for their community.

The organization partners with several large tech firms such as Square and realtor.com, and has been supported in the past by Adobe, Dropbox, Google, IBM, Netflix, Spotify, and more.

Natives in Tech

Natives in Tech is a nonprofit working to build a collective of Native and non-Native ally tech professionals and create free, open-source technology centered around serving Indigenous communities and cultures.

Every year since 2019, Natives in Tech has put together the Natives in Tech Conference, a free public event that brings together Native technologists around the world to discuss their projects that help support indigenous populations.

Natives in Tech currently hosts four main projects:

• Native Owned Businesses is a GitHub directory of businesses with full or majority Native ownership.
• This Land I Stand is an app that shows a user what indigenous land they are currently on based on their IP address.
• Indigemoji is a collection of emoji symbols that include indigenous flags and symbols, which can be used on platforms such as Slack and Discord.
• Lastly, MMIWG2S uses augmented reality face meshing and social media posting to raise awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit.

Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers

The Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE) was founded in order to help those of Asian descent reach their full potential in the science and engineering fields. The organization was originally founded at Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 2007 after the company saw an opportunity to improve recruiting and development among Asian heritage students.

SASE’s main event is the Game Jam for Social Justice, a collaboration with Booz Allen and Unity. A game jam is essentially a hackathon in which teams of diverse backgrounds create playable games in a short timeframe. SASE’s Game Jam focuses on Asian Pacific heritage storytelling and teaching participants the basics of the Unity editor.

SASE also boasts its 6E Leadership Model: Envision, Engage, Energize, Empower, Execute and Elastic. This leadership self-assessment allows users to indicate their strengths and weaknesses, specifically highlighting Asian tendencies.

Vets in Tech

Vets in Tech provides support for transitioning military, veterans, and spouses to help them move into the tech sector. Their board includes Craig Newmark, the founder of the classified advertising site Craigslist. The organization provides re-integration services for current and returning veterans interested in their “3 E’s”: Education, Entrepreneurship and Employment.

The VetsInTech Academy provides courses for veterans about topics such as cybersecurity, data science, cloud computing, sales and more. The online academy has graduated over 1,000 individuals and boasts an average cybersecurity starting salary of over $112,000.

The ViTSUN Startup Network connects veterans with peers and entrepreneurial resources at various stages, including new startups, investors, or partners. The network partners with companies such as Facebook, TechCrunch, and Andreessen Horowitz. Events include an entrepreneur boot camp, hackathons, office hours, and more.

Veterans can also submit their resumes to Vets in Tech for feedback and advice on how to tailor their military skills to the tech workplace.

Tech Disability Project

The Tech Disability Project is working to elevate people with disabilities in the tech sector. The organization runs annual industry-wide campaigns every year during National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October. In 2020, their “Disability United” campaign included a virtual community mixer sponsored by Adobe and Mixpanel and a survey to better understand members’ experiences.

The organization frequently holds discussions and panel events with disability advocates and speakers. Their site also lists several resources for tech professionals with disabilities, including Lime Connect.

Open Sourcing Mental Illness

Open Sourcing Mental Illness is a non-profit that is working to raise awareness and destigmatize mental health issues in the tech and open-source communities.

OSMI’s website hosts a page called “OSMI Stories,” which includes several anonymous pieces about personal experiences in regards to mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Additionally, each year, OSMI hosts a Mental Health in Tech survey to gauge the state of mental health in the tech industry.

OSMI also boasts an extensive list of mental health resources such as crisis hotlines, mental health organizations, therapists, and books.

National Center for Women & Information Technology’s (NCWIT) Male Allies and Advocates

While there may not be a specific major group for allies and “majority-group” individuals, the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) has created the Male Allies and Advocates Toolkit. The toolkit is designed to engage male allies and advocates in diversity and inclusion discussions in the tech field.

Through this toolkit, male allies are encouraged to use their voices to advocate for those less represented, especially since most people in formal leadership positions are males or “majority-group” individuals.

The toolkit focuses on two stages: preparing for initial awareness and developing an action plan for continued male advocacy success.